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comet
Comet Streaks Across Northern Sky
Reuters
WASHINGTON (March 22) - Comet Ikeya-Zhang, discovered by two amateur astronomers in February, can be seen streaking across skies over the Northern Hemisphere for the next several weeks, scientists said on Thursday.
No telescope is needed, but binoculars are recommended to see the comet, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said in a statement.
To find Comet Ikeya-Zhang, look in the western sky shortly after sunset and locate the planet Mars -- that will be a red point of light about 18 degrees up from the horizon. (An outspread hand at arm's length covers about 15 degrees, so Mars is a bit higher than one hand-span.)
To the right of Mars are two bright stars in a nearly vertical line. The comet is at the same height as Mars, to the right of the two bright stars about as far again as the distance from Mars to the stars.
Observers should be able to see the comet's bright, starlike nucleus surrounded by a fuzzy cloud of dust and gas called the coma. The comet's tail streaks points nearly straight up from the horizon.
The comet should be visible in the west-northwestern sky for several hours after sunset for the next few weeks, according to The Planetary Society, which seeks to encourage exploration of the solar system.
First detected on Feb. 1 by amateurs in Japan and China, respectively, Ikeya-Zhang was last seen in 1661, according to the Harvard center's Brian Marsden.
On this trip, the comet came closest to the sun on March 18 and now is headed back into deep space.
An image of the comet taken by the MicroObservatory telescope in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is available online at http:/cfa-www.harvard.edu/press/comet-image.html.
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